Women

Oregon, Michigan, and Mississippi State all outperformed their rankings thanks in large part to huge improvements from returners. National champions Oregon had Maggie Schmaedick and Ashley Maton go from outside the top 110 in 2015 to inside the top 60 this year, plus Allie Cash jumped from 31st to 14th. Runner-up Michigan's Jamie Morrissey, Gina Sereno, Jaimie Phelan, and Erin Finn improved a combined 202 places from a year ago. And Mississippi State went from unranked in the Flo50 to 15th in the nation thanks to Ffion Price, Mia Meydrich, Shannon Fair, and Rhianwedd Price improving a combined 197 places from last year.

Washington, on the other hand, showed how hard it is to sustain success at this meet. Their three 2015 returners--Kaylee Flanagan, Katie Knight, and Charlotte Prouse--dropped a combined 164 places this year, with most of that coming from Prouse falling from 78th last year to 208th this year.

Penn State showed the importance of the low stick. Jillian Hunsberger and Elizabeth Chikotas went from outside the top 100 last year to All-Americans this year, and Greta Lindsley improved from 225th to 140th. But season-long Tessa Barrett dropped out, and Penn State finished 18th after being ranked No. 7 coming into the meet.

Note: these tables only cover athletes who made last year's NCAA meet, so runners like Karissa Schweizer who didn't qualify aren't in them.

Complete results

Watch full replays of the 2016 DI NCAA XC Championships: Men's race | Women's race

DIFF	2016	2015	Athlete	YR	School
149	23	172	Bilo, Peyton	SO	Cal Poly
122	66	188	Price, Ffion	SR	Miss State
120	20	140	Piccirillo, Angel	SR	Villanova
119	123	242	Warner, Ashleigh	JR	BYU
116	36	152	Hunsberger, Jillian	JR	Penn State
110	57	167	Tsai, Sara	SO	Vanderbilt
108	10	118	Taylor, Charlotte	SR	San Francisco
97	41	138	Heffernan, Annie	SO	Notre Dame
96	51	147	Strandemo, Madeline	JR	Minnesota
90	90	180	Morrissey, Jamie	JR	Michigan
87	15	102	Chikotas, Elizabeth	JR	Penn State
85	140	225	Lindsley, Greta	SO	Penn State
79	84	163	Rudawsky, Alyssa	JR	North Carolina St.
77	126	203	Dybedokken, Aurora	JR	Oklahoma State
67	83	150	Katz, Danielle	SR	Stanford
60	13	73	Montgomery, Ashley	SR	Penn
60	64	124	Schmaedick, Maggie	SR	Oregon
60	30	90	Sereno, Gina	JR	Michigan
54	43	97	Morley, Makena	SO	Colorado
51	61	112	Maton, Ashley	SR	Oregon
46	68	114	Ilarda, Brianna	JR	Providence
45	98	143	Melian, Christina	SR	Stony Brook
45	87	132	Pyzik, Weronika	SO	San Francisco
44	60	104	McInturff, Hannah	JR	Utah
44	44	88	Montoya, Maggie	SR	Baylor
43	197	240	Hutchinson, Nicole	SO	Villanova
41	114	155	Silva, Yesenia	SR	BYU
40	178	218	Hetherington, Abbie	JR	Oklahoma State
40	17	57	Kemp, Erika	SR	North Carolina St.
39	136	175	Burda, Bella	SO	Villanova
35	65	100	Phelan, Jaimie	JR	Michigan
34	25	59	Koon, Rachel	SO	North Carolina St.
34	88	122	Sughroue, Molly	JR	Oklahoma State
30	132	162	Meydrich, Mia	JR	Miss State
28	85	113	Cleirigh Buttner, Siofra	JR	Villanova
27	186	213	Fair, Shannon	SO	Miss State
27	22	49	Jones, Dani	SO	Colorado
25	35	60	Smith, Courtney	JR	Harvard
23	62	85	Burkard, Elena	SR	San Francisco
22	55	77	Paladino, Millie	JR	Providence
18	32	50	Price, Rhianwedd	SR	Miss State
17	14	31	Cash, Alli	JR	Oregon
17	2	19	Finn, Erin	SR	Michigan
16	59	75	Johnson, Carolina	SO	UCLA
14	101	115	Child, Ellie	SR	Weber State
13	220	233	Schulte, Tatjana	SO	San Francisco
5	5	10	Lokedi, Sharon	SO	Kansas
4	170	174	Jensen, Alice	SO	BYU
3	6	9	Peloquin, Brenna	SO	Boise State
3	3	6	Rohrer, Anna	SO	Notre Dame
2	215	217	Reina, Valerie	SR	Arkansas
-7	115	108	Frazier, Ryen	SO	North Carolina St.
-10	26	16	Benner, Kaitlyn	JR	Colorado
-10	80	70	Edwards, Kaela	SR	Oklahoma State
-12	210	198	Fisher, Katie	JR	Villanova
-12	103	91	Schmelzle, Hope	SR	Northern Illinois
-13	28	15	Thackery, Calli	SR	New Mexico
-14	19	5	Wright, Alice	JR	New Mexico
-16	150	134	Flanagan, Kaylee	SR	Washington
-17	223	206	Guay, Evelyne	SO	Iowa State
-18	113	95	Knight, Katie	JR	Washington
-23	204	181	Kocjancic, Julie	SR	Penn State
-23	117	94	Moye, Megan	SR	North Carolina St.
-27	67	40	Fraser, Vanessa	JR	Stanford
-28	49	21	Wiersma, Alexis	SR	Michigan State
-37	138	101	Lembo, Katie	JR	Providence
-38	131	93	Sorensen, Shaelyn	SO	Wisconsin
-40	86	46	Reiter, Sarah	SR	Eastern Washington
-40	143	103	Ward, Regan	SR	Arkansas
-44	69	25	Rome, Regan	JR	William and Mary
-51	130	79	Jackson, Shelby	SR	Michigan State
-52	211	159	Gilfillan, Darby	JR	Colorado St.
-52	203	151	Hooker, Erin	JR	Iowa State
-53	149	96	DaDamio, Rachel	SO	Notre Dame
-70	118	48	Clark, Devin	SO	Arkansas
-74	94	20	Collins, Sarah	SR	Providence
-113	234	121	Boyert, Anna	SR	Oklahoma State
-122	133	11	Clark, Erin	SR	Colorado
-126	207	81	Fluehr, Kathryn	SR	New Mexico
-130	208	78	Prouse, Charlotte	SO	Washington
-148	190	42	Rotich, Perez	SR	Iowa State
-154	228	74	Tambet, Heleene	SR	San Francisco

Men

Three of the top ten men in the nation, Georgetown's Scott Carpenter, Mississippi's MJ Erb, and BYU's Nico Montanez, weren't even in the top 140 at nationals last year. Carpenter and Erb are talented track studs---their steeplechase PRs are 8:40 and 8:34, respectively---but Montanez is one of the most improved athletes in the nation. His 30:02 10K time on Saturday at nationals is just six seconds slower than his 10K track PR, and his second-half 5K split of 14:44 is only six seconds slower than his 5K track PR.

Erb's Mississippi squad was 30th last year and 4th this year, with mostly the same guys. Erb, Robert Domanic, and Craig Engels improved a combined 352 places from 2015. As their coach Ryan Vanhoy said, they ran this year like they were capable of running last year.

It was a rollercoaster of a day for Arkansas Alex George (went from 176th to 15th) took a big jump forward in the meet. But Frankline Tonui (went from 40th to 112th) and Austen Dalquist (went from 89th to 196th) took two of the biggest steps backward in the meet, and the Razorbacks finished fifth overall.

Points for consistency to Washington's Fred Huxham, who has now finished exactly 100th at NCAA XC two years in a row.

Complete results

Watch full replays of the 2016 DI NCAA XC Championships: Men's race | Women's race

DIFF	2016	2015	Athlete	YR	School
228	10	238	Carpenter, Scott	SR	Georgetown
181	6	187	Erb, MJ	SR	Mississippi
167	14	181	Edman, Ferdinand	SR	UCLA
166	41	207	Wharton, Sam	JR	Stanford
161	15	176	George, Alex	JR	Arkansas
158	61	219	Collins, Josh	SO	Southern Utah
145	86	231	Keelan, Jack	JR	Stanford
137	9	146	Montanez, Nicolas	SR	BYU
124	42	166	Demarest, Brent	SO	Virginia
124	101	225	Harper, Jonathan	JR	BYU
123	31	154	Raymond, Nicholas	SR	Eastern Michigan
118	53	171	Herriott, Zach	SR	Virginia
116	93	209	Motschmann, Johannes	JR	Iona
114	108	222	Visokay, Adam	SR	Syracuse
112	76	188	Roderique, Adam	JR	Tulsa
107	57	164	Guillorel, Arse'ne	JR	Samford
105	26	131	Kipkoech, Lawrence	SO	Campbell
101	55	156	Domanic, Robert	SR	Mississippi
87	159	246	Dobos, Isaac	SO	Tulsa
80	113	193	Tadesse, Nathan	SO	Washington St.
71	82	153	Mulenga, Harry	SR	Florida State
71	133	204	Soter, Nick	SR	Michigan State
70	52	122	Diaz, Jonah	SR	UCLA
70	90	160	Engels, Craig	SR	Mississippi
70	125	195	Perrin, Zach	JR	Colorado
65	36	101	Thompson, Joshua	SR	Oklahoma State
60	83	143	Lara, Frank	JR	Furman
59	43	102	Kosgei, Antibahs	SR	Alabama
57	128	185	Aouani, Iliass	SO	Syracuse
56	172	228	Hendrickson, Connor	JR	Texas
56	29	85	Maton, Matthew	SO	Oregon
55	169	224	Del Rosso, Austin	SO	Tulsa
52	109	161	Brandt, Robert	SO	California
50	63	113	Whelan, John	SR	Washington St.
42	72	114	Preisner, Benjamin	JR	Tulsa
39	177	216	Corcoran, Garrett	JR	California
38	145	183	Teigen, Chandler	SO	Washington St.
36	115	151	Levora, Sam	JR	Washington St.
35	191	226	Rogers, Alex	SO	Texas
33	8	41	Kibichiy, Edwin	SR	Louisville
30	168	198	Wright, Matt	JR	Southern Utah
27	27	54	Hardt, Sherod	SR	Michigan State
27	91	118	Mulherin, Stephen	SR	Portland
27	30	57	Williams, Michael	JR	Washington St.
21	13	34	Traynor, Luke	SR	Tulsa
16	164	180	Alvarado, Christian	SO	Georgetown
16	20	36	Reichow, Joel	SR	South Dakota St.
14	44	58	Clements, Kieran	SR	Iona
13	34	47	Hubbard, Joel	SR	Syracuse
12	5	17	Fisher, Grant	SO	Stanford
12	232	244	Moore, Nate	SR	Texas
12	51	63	Parsons, George	SR	North Carolina St.
10	21	31	Saarel, Ben	SR	Colorado
6	180	186	Knevelbaard, Kasey	SO	Southern Utah
6	62	68	Tobin, Sean	JR	Mississippi
4	19	23	Bruce, Jack	JR	Arkansas
2	2	4	Knight, Justyn	JR	Syracuse
1	1	2	Tiernan, Patrick	SR	Villanova
0	100	100	Huxham, Fred	JR	Washington
-2	3	1	Cheserek, Edward	SR	Oregon
-3	171	168	Austin, Chandler	SO	Boise State
-3	202	199	Ruiz, Clark	JR	Michigan State
-6	251	245	Kiprono, Evans	SR	UTEP
-7	117	110	Dee, Liam	SO	Iona
-7	33	26	Dressel, John	SO	Colorado
-9	17	8	Bennie, Colin	JR	Syracuse
-9	73	64	Sweatt, Garrett	SR	Stanford
-10	49	39	Germano, Philo	JR	Syracuse
-12	68	56	Anderson, Tanner	SO	Oregon
-15	105	90	Rotich, Erick	SO	Eastern Kentucky
-15	163	148	Smith, Myles	JR	UCLA
-17	24	7	McGorty, Sean	SR	Stanford
-18	111	93	Vennard, Michael	JR	Boise State
-21	64	43	Miller, Chartt	JR	Iona
-22	60	38	Clevenger, Michael	SR	Georgetown
-25	235	210	Robertson, Mark	JR	Mississippi
-27	138	111	Boit, Cosmas	SR	UTEP
-27	56	29	Lafond, Dylan	SR	Illinois
-29	137	108	Kosgei, Antony	SO	UTEP
-34	78	44	Thomson, Jacob	JR	Kentucky
-35	54	19	Mock, Jerrell	JR	Colorado St.
-44	236	192	Cheruiyot, Daniel	JR	UTEP
-45	197	152	Allen, Brandon	JR	Iona
-46	204	158	Lederhouse, Michael	SR	Georgetown
-58	205	147	Blankenbaker, Dylan	SR	Oklahoma
-67	87	20	Kirui, Gilbert	JR	Iona
-72	112	40	Tonui, Frankline	SR	Arkansas
-94	199	105	Lawson, John	JR	California
-105	151	46	Neuman, Travis	JR	Oregon
-107	196	89	Dalquist, Austen	JR	Arkansas
-111	122	11	Koech, Jonah	SO	UTEP
-116	129	13	Abbey, Jefferson	SR	Colorado St.
-122	242	120	Park, Rhys	JR	Boise State
-126	181	55	Weaverling, Chase	JR	Virginia
-134	207	73	Tuck, Nicholas	SR	Penn
-139	189	50	Leingang, Jake	SR	Oregon